WATAUGA DEMOCRAT
ESTABLISHED IN IMS
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY MVERS PRINTING COMPANY, INC
R. C. RIVERS*. JR., EDITOR AND MANAGER
JEAN RIVERS, AWOCIATE EMTTOl
An Iadependent Weekly Newspaper
Published for 48 Yew by Ratxut C. Rfrwrs.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES (EFFECTIVE FEBRUARY 1, 1863)
IN NORTH CAROLINA
One Year *8 0? 1
Six Month* U. $U?
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mention the OLD, as well as the NEW addr? s.
Bntered at the postofftre at Boone, If. C., as second'clasa matter, under the act of
Congress of March 3, 1879.
MEMBER NATIONAL EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION
NORTH CAROLINA P8B8S ASSOCIATION
Memorial Day Dangers
Memorial Day, a day set aside to
honor and pay tribute to the nation's
war dead, usually means leisure time
for moat. people.
Fortunately, from the viewpoint
of traffic safety, Memorial Day this
year comes on Thursday. Conse
quently, fewer long motor trips will
be planned. More folks will stay at
home or nearby. We trust this will
mean fewer people will be involved
in accidents, that fewer people will
be killed or hart.
You can protect, yourself and your
family. You can keep from being
among those who are going to be
victims of their own foolishness, or
that of others.
The best way to avoid the hazards
of driving and holiday traffic is to
stay at home. Have a cook out. Play
games. Mow the lawn. Wax the car.
Plan anything that will keep you
close to the hearthside.
But if a trip is irresistible, then
give yourself a better than even
break by following the basic rules of
highway safety.
The North Carolina Department of
Motor Vehicles suggests, first, that
you obey the traffic laws every mo
ment you're in motion. That's cer
tainly basic. Next, hold back your
speed. It's still a killer. Those who
have had an accident (or a close
shave) because of excessive speed be
lieve it won't happen again. Those
who have never had any trouble
while breaking the speed law mini
mize the whole thing.
It's all propaganda, they say.
Maybe. But when propaganda is
based on solid fact, doesn't it deserve
our serious attention? No one's ever
suffered from excessive editorials on
speeding. But many have died from
excessive speed on the highways.
Teenage Work Force Increases
North Carolina's labor force be
tween the ages of 14 to 19 will
reach a total of 183,500 by 1965, an
increase of 9,600, or 5.5 percent,
over the 1960 figure, according to a
manpower report released this week
by Sercretary of Labor W. Willard
Wirtz.. The national average increase
for the same period is estimated to
be 23.5 percent.
North Carolina's age group 14 to
19 during the 1966-70 period is- pro
jected to decrease by 13,200, a drop
of 7.2 percent. Translated in terms
of educational needs, these flguits
point up the immediacy of North
Carolina's youth employment prob
lems.
Secretary Wirtas released the re
port in testimony before the Senate
Subcommittee on Education, saying,
"Unless and until the educational
system in this country is strengthen
ed, two danger spots that have al
ready shown up in our manpower Sit
uation are going to get worse. One,
the concentration ' of unemployment
among unskilled workers. The other
is the imminent shortage of person
nel In a good many skilled, profess
ional, semi-professional and techni
cal occupations."
The problem is two-fold: To seek
ways and means of stimulating the
economy to provide more jobs, and
to prepare oar young workers for
the more highly skilled jobs required
by. our modern technological econ
omy.
Mr. Wirtz pointed out that many
young people do not have the re
sources to obtain the kind of educa
tion and training demanded by auto
mation and space-age technology; he
further noted that in 1961 approxi
mately 12 million youngsters
throughout the nation were in fam
ilies whose money income was less
than $3,000.
Commencement Theme
It's commencement time, and the
proud papas and mamas are lining
up with their boys and girls, hearing
the oratory, and shedding a tear as
they reach out for the sheepskin.
Not because they are grieved at their
attainments, but because the day of
parting, in so many cases, has ar
rived.
A commencement speaker could
do worse, we would say, than to de
velop his remarks from "A Father's
Prayer," by General McArthw. He
said:
"Build me a son (or give me a gradu
ate), O Lord, who will be strong enough
to know when he is weak, and brave
enough to face himself when he is afraid;
One who will be proud and unbending in
honest defeat, and humble and gentle in
victory.
"Build me a son whose wishbone will
not be where his backbone should be;
a son who will know Thee ? and that to
know himself is the foundation stone of
knowledge. Lead him, I pray, not in the
path of comfort but under the stress and
spur of difficulties and challenges. . . .
Let him learn to stand up in the storm.
. . . Let him learn compassion for those
who fail.
"Build ma a sob whose heart will be
clear, whose goal will, be high; a son
who will master himself before he seeks
to master others; one who wilt learn to
laugh, yet never forget how to weep;
one who will reach into the future, yet
never forget the past. And after all these
things are his, add, I pray, enough of a
sense of humor, so that he may always
be serious, yet never take himself too
seriously. Give him humility, so that he
may always remember the simplicity of
true greatness, the open mind of true
wisdom, the meekness of true strength."
Those who appreciate the solid in
tangibles will like the supplication of
a strong man and old warrior, who's
learned through an active life that
silver and gold do not make a man
great, or position necessarily make
him strong.
No Bed Of Roses
(Elkin Tribune)
The House Anti-Trust Committee if
looking into the question of newspaper
ownership and while no one can predict
the outcome of its hearings, it is good
to examine the trend in the newspaper
ownership of the daily newspaper*. And,
concern in some circles for a long tiaMr
The trend, of course, is toward chain
owneship of the daily newspapers. And,
further, the trend in recent year* ia
toward one newspaper, or one large news
paper corporation, in most of the larger
cities.
Those concerned over the future, be
cause of this trend, claim that it is almost
a monopoly situation in many of the na
tion's cities. Those denying any danger
point out that newspapers now kave plenty
of competition from til* new median,
television, and from radio. And they
also point out the fact that on* can buy
mwtpapers from any other towns 1b any
IF
large citiM.
The committee looking into this ques
tion has beea told that there are MO
fewer dailies today than there were SO
years ago, in spite of a huge population
in urease it that time. In jthe list .10 years
about 2,000. weekMea haw gam oat of
business.
So the newspaper industry is not boom
ing by any means. Aad the major threat
at the present for big dailies, is the lack
of reatrkxiaa on. laber. Trade unions in
the industry, for example, are exempt
ftvai the an ti -trust laws. Perhaps b0UV
chain ownership and union power will
have to '* limited in the interest of the
public. Wee, independent community
newspapers, capable of expressing the
views- of pevple In their coomraaity, un>
dominated by unrestrained unions, are la
the public interest.
From Early Democrat Files
Sixty Year? Ago
May M, 1903.
Prof. Francum is assisting in
the summer school at Watauga
Academy.
Mrs. Richard M. Greene has
measels, but fortunately it is in
quite a light form.
Rev. J. J. L. Sherwood will
preach at Shull's Mills on next
Sunday at U a, m.
Sixty-eight in attendance at
the summer school. How is that
for only the second week?
Dr. R. D. Jennings, of Banner
Elk, will be at the Blackburn
Motel on Monday and Tuesday
of next week in the interest of
the people's bad teeth. He does
all his work' under a positive
guarantee and uses nothing but
the best material.
Miss Mary Lillington Hardin,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John
F. Hardin, has returned from
the Greensboro Female College,
which closed her third year in
that institution.
Attorney E. F. Lovill left
yesterday for Blountville, Tenn.
for the purpose of taking some
depositions to be used in a
trial here next week.
As the jail still remains
empty and the docket is exceed
ingly light, we may expect a
short term of court.
Mrs. Chas. Hodges, of How
ard's Creek visited her parents,
Mr. and Mrs. T. J. F. Brown,
last week.
The building committee ap
pointed for the Appalachian
Training School building is
composed of the following
gentlemen: Messrs. Hoses H.
Cone and E. F. LoviU, of Wa
tauga; F. P. Moore of Caldwell;
T. C. Bowie, of Ashe, and J.
Riley Pritchard, of Mitchell.
The committee will have its
first meeting within the next
few days, a site will be select
ed and work on the brick for
the buildings will be begun at
oace.
Married on the 17th init.,
Miss Emma, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Pinkney Harrison, to
Mr. John Benson.
Miss Ethel Kerley has re
turned to her home from Wilkes
where she spent the winter
with relatives.
Thirty-Nine Years Ago
May 29, 1924.
Meat Camp
Mrs. Phileo of Greemont, Va.,
visits her daughter Mrs. Thos.
Greene.
Mr. and Mrs. James Bingham,
little Miss Laura Lee and baby
were the week end guests of
Mr. and Mrs. Willie Proffit's.
We were glad to see them in the
community. Come back again.
Mr. and Mrs. James MUler
of Linville visit at Mr. Larkin
Miller's.
Mr. A. G. Miller of Yuma was
a business caller here last Mon
day.
Stlverstone
On last Sunday there was a
birthday celebration at the
home of Mr. W. L. Wilson, It
being intended for both Mr.
and Mrs. Wilson. The children
were all present except one,
Just One Thing
BJ CAM. goerch AFTER ANOTHER
We've just been reading
George T. Ivey's new book,
"Humor and Humanity."
In one chapter, Mr. Ivey pro
pounds a number of interesting
questions. Here are two of them:
1. Punctuate this sentence so
as to make good sense. "It was
and I said not or."
2. Punctuate this one: "That
which is is that which it not is
not."
The people of North Carolina
always have had the reputation
of being very courteous. Of
course, there are exceptions to
the rule, but I believe that it
most assuredly applies to the
vast majortiy.
As an Illustration of this, Mr.
W. A. Whitmer, of Peachland,
tells us of a little experience
that he and Mr. Wyman Vick
had last fall following those
heavy rains.
They have adjoining farms.
Their tractors kept miring up
in the field. Mr. Whitmer would
puH Mr, Vick out and then Mr.
Vick would pull Mr. Whitmer
out.
That happened a number of
times.
Finally both tractors got
stuck.
The men were working near
a railroad track, and while they
were standing there, bemoaning
their fate, a train engine came
by traveling slowly. Mr. Vick
pointed at the stalled tractors
and hollered: "Hey! How about
giving us a pull?"
The engineer stopped, backed
hts engine, hooked a long chain
to one of the tractors, advanced
Ms thwttte slowly, and the
tractor cane out without the
slightest difficulty. Same thing
was done with the other one.
"Much obliged," yelled Mr.
Whitmer and Mr. Vick in unison.
"You're welcome!" called out
the engineer, as he started off
down the track again.
Mist Ruby May Carpenter, of
Lawndale, tells us of a resident
of that place whose name is
William Harshall Marshall By
num Sealberry 0*>hus Duffey
Dark Early Grandpa Newton
Burgin Jeffers.
They call him Bill for short.
Mrs. W. B. R. Guion of New
Bern sends us a newspaper clip
ping the contents of which prob
ably would puzzle even Profes
sor Einstein:
The greatest recorded loss of
life by shipwreck was in the
sinking of the French cruiser,
Provemce, February 26, IMS, in
the Mediterranean. Of the 44
aboard, only 870 were saved.
I don't know why things of
this nature appeal to me, but
they do.
A woman wanted to have
soma painting' done at her house,
so she got in touch with a man
and asked htm to come around.
"Are you a painter?" she in
quired
"Yea," was his answer.
"What kind of painting have
you baen doing lately?"
"Men and ml mi a."
"Oh," she exclaimed. "You're
an artist, arent you?"
"NoW ha replied. "I painted
WOMEN on o?a door and MEN
on die other for a number of
lUtMhd of the Soathern RaU
ai.aa ? \ . I
Mrs. John Perdue, and most of
the grandchildren. They report
ed an enjoyable time, plenty of
good things to eat and a re
freshments of ice cream. We
wish for them many more hap
py birthdays.
The rain seems to be over
and today brings forth beauti
ful sunshine. The road men
with their machines are doing
some exhellent work on our
public roads through the Silver
stone section, Mr. Ed Miller act
ing at overseer.
Cove Creek
Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Wilson
and daughter Nelda spent the
week end at the home of Mr.
and Mrs. D. F. Herton.
The people of this commun
ity were grieved to hear of the
death of Mr. John B. Johnson
which occurred at his home at
Mabel last Sunday. He was
buried with Masonic honors at
the cemetery at Henson's Cha
pel.
Mabel
Mr. and Mrs. John York from
Virginia are visiting Mat
Younce.
Mrs. Link Culver and sister,
Miss Bulice Church, have re
turned home from Johnson City
where they have been visiting
for the past three weeks. Mrs.
Culver's husband from the
Johnson City sanatorium ac
companied them back. We are
glad to see Mr. Culver looking
so well.
Fifteen Years Ago
May 27, 1948
Mrs. W. R Brewer and fam
ily, formerly of Vilas, have re
cently moved to Boone.
Mrs. J. A. Idol celebrated her
birthday Sunday, May 23. Many
friends and relatives attended
a dinner given in her honor.
Mr. and Mis. Herbert Coch
rane and family of Newton
,were week end visitors with
Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Reece.
Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Isaacs
announce the birth of a daugh
ter, Stephanie Kim, May 21st
at Watauga hospital.
Fred Councill returned home
on Monday from Duke Hospital
where be recently underwent an
operation.
Mrs. T. H. Briggs and son,
Sunny, of Jekyll Island, Ga?
are visiting Mr. and Mrs. Joe
Crawford.
Mr. and Mrs. A. E. South,
son Stanley and daughter Mar
jorie returned home Sunday
from a week end trip to Mt.
Mitchell, Asheville, and Chim
ney Rock.
Mr. and Mr*. Carl Day re
turned ' hQme Tuesday after
spending a few days with Mrs.
Day's slater, Mrs. Paul Murray
and Mt. Murray in Greensboro.
Mr. C. C. Wilcox and Mr. W.
H. Gragg have just returned
from a business trip which took
them to Chicago, 111. and other
midwMtern states.
Mr. and Mrs. Ernest C. Lane
of Portsmouth, Va. have return
ed to their htfme after spending
several days with Mrs. Lane's
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joe L
Coffey of Laxon.
Mr. J. M. Moretz has scld his
grocery business on Depot
Street to Messrs. John Moretz,
and Ralph Moretz. Jr. Mr. Mor
$ etz is a Justice of the Peace
and Notary Public and has
opened bis office with Attorney
W. R. Lovill, near the Watauga
Saks and Service.
STREET
BY ROB R1VI
In this day of lurid taovlM, tv shows, and nasty
novels, one can contemplate with interest, if not a de
gree of humor, the days whaa "dime novels" were con
sidered the work of Satan hiaaself, and the problem
children of the day hid the paper back books from their
parents, and sometimes managed a chapter of two of
one of the Sherlock Holmes thrillers while the little
volume was nestled down inside the Mg pages of the
"joggafy". . . . The only thing there was, parents were
apt to become concerned with our deep interest in geo
graphy, and catch us cheating in our literary forays.
or COUK8C the dime novel*
weren't aeijr or degrading ict
ualljr, moft at them ware de
tective stories, and once in a
while we'd manage to acquire
a skimp? volume on Iks west
ern train robberies, a saga of
Jesse and Frank James, or
maybe some tales of the Dal
tons or the Earps or some of
the others who drew smoking
long-barreled revolvers from
low-slung holsters In the dnaty
streets of western cattle tewna.
. . . And the bad boy of the
community waa the one who
grew a habit far these tales
of the killers and the gam birrs
and the robbers of another day
and age and of the men who
tracked them down.
CARDS AND DANCING,
likewise, were considered the
product of the apostles of the
devil in that far away day of
quietude and of unlocked doors
and unrobbed stores and of
relative peace, and the village
tongues wagged when the lads
took a try at setback and some
of the men of the community
played a little poker in the
cool of the evening. . . . But
one had sooner be caugh't tot
ing a pistol than for his mom
to find that he had harbored a
deck of cards of the sort they
associated with saloon gun
fights and with brawling and
with all the evils of the fron
tier towns. . . . And we won
der what our pops and moms
would think of the no-hands
sort of living a lot of the
youngsters are doing in these
days of the powered wheel,
and the jingling pocket and
the pretty girls who dont
blush quite so easily.
* * *
Of Farming And Wheat
?
President Kennedy's farm
program got a lacing the otter
day when the wheat farmers of
the country turned down con
trols. ... In noting the trend
of the voting we were remind
ed of a talk wo had with some
wheat farmers In southern Illi
nois a year or more ago. . . .
We'd taken a wrong turn and
stopped at a gas station for
information. ... The man's
wife had a lunch counter, and
we were hungry, so we had a
sandwich and some coffee. . . .
A couple of farmers came in
and made conversation about
wheat fanning. . . . One of
them didn't appear overly con
cerned, while the other took a
turn at loud complaining over
the quota system, allowing as
how he should be able to seed
his land to whatever grain in
any quantity he wished. . . .
Drawn in on the conversation,
we admitted we'd just as leave
he'd plant a bumper crop?
We knew, after aB, very little
abont' farming. . . . However,
we did Interject that the thing
appeared popular in Carolina.
. . . The fellow agreed that It
was a good thing here, and
left the farmers who didn't
raise an appreciable amount of
wheat in good shape. "Bat," he
said, "our farm economy la
geared to tremendous produc
tion. ... We are like the man
ufacturing concerns, and dont
feel like we can do any good
raising a little of anything. . . .
Give me unregulated plant
ing! and let her be cheap, HI
nuke It," said the man of the
son, who with a "glad to meet
cha." strode from the Httle es
tablishment on the fringes of
the vast dark farmlands. ... He
didnt say anything about sur
pluses, of coarse, which sm
Insurmountable but he knew
how the folks felt. ... In
Illinois the wheat control pro
gram was a? wed under, whtfe
In North Carolina the vote was
82 per cent In favor of (he
controls, H'
** * .
Golden Hotor Roll
E Mrs. W. D. Farthing calls to
say she's taken the Democrat
since 1900 without interrup
tion, this perhaps being about
the time the family moved to
Boone, when Mr. Farthing took
office as Clerk of the Superior
Austin E. South says he sub
scribed to the Democrat In 19 1 1
and hasn't miased a year since.
Of coarse he had read the pa
per before that time at the
kAm? ni Km RMtftf lin Ron
IIUIIIC V* son OlDVvi , miDi fvll
Brannock, and Mr. Brannock,
where he lived on the same soil
where he still lives. A retired
Superior Court Clerk, who per
haps broke a county record for
long tenure in office, Mr. South
is enjoying his retirement, and
taking life easy.
Uncle
Pinkney
HIS PALAV ERIN'S
DEAR MISTER EDITOR:
Zeke Grubb's preacher come
by the country store Saturday
night, told the fellers things
was pritty lonesome at his
liouse lately. He said their
social life has got so puny
he'd even be glad to see his
mother-in-law come fer a 2
hour visit.
The good parson claimed he
could recollect in other days
when him and his wife was
invited out to eat 3 and 4 times
a week. But he said it looks
like them days has gone for
ever. He reported that the last
time they was invited out to
eat was last Thanksgiving and
that was on account of Rufe
Zinder was having a big family
git-together and they needed
somebody to ask a fancy bless
ing.
He told the fellers he has
been doing a little thinking on
this matter and has come up
with the reasons he ain't eat
ing out more regular. First off,
he figgert, families don't eat
in the home like they did in
the old days. Papa eats on the
frontporch, Mama eats in the
kitchen, Junior eats in front of
the TV set, and Sister is up at
the drug store eating a pop
sikle. He said he wouldn't
know hardly which place to
set if he was invited to that
house.
Another reason, he figgers,
is that most wimmen nowadays
cook from tin cans and the
froie food counter and they
was a little ashamed 'to invite
the preacher to eat somebody
else's cooking, sorter like going
to hear a preacher read an
other preacher's sermon.
All these reasons, he claim
ed, is good, but after a power
ful lot of thinking he has de
cided that the main reason him
and his family don't git invited
out to eat no more is on ac
count of his 6 younguns.
As long as they wasn't no
body but him and his wife, he
said, folks didn't mind. But
now with their 6 younguns it
was a matter of cleaning out
the pantry shelf and most wim
men is agin cleaning out the
pantry shelf at just one setting.
He told the fellers he'd never
fergit when Big Slim's wife
first invited them over to her
house fer supper. She didn't
know they had all them young
uns and when they all come
marching in, Big Slim's wife
was about to faint Ha reported
that was the last time they has
broke bread with the Big Slim
family. He figgerc they broke
Big Slim's pocketbook the first
time around.
r* He told the fellers the clergy
has lust as waU face up to the
issue, that in the preaching per
fesslon a preacher was going
to have t* choose between
having a big family and eating
out.
The%ood Parson left a little
early, said he had to gh on
home - wilt them six cans of
pork and beans se's his wife
could put supper on the table.
Yours truly,
Qnde pinkney